Samuel Butler

Name: Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range
Author: Samuel Butler

Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (1872)

Summary

“Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range”, published in 1872, is a work by Samuel Butler. It explores elements such as Chowbok, swag and raft.

Quotes from Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (Samuel Butler)

Samuel Butler, Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (1872)

“ As soon as I got to the river side I liked it even less than I thought I should. It was muddy, being near its parent glaciers. The stream was wide, rapid, and rough, and I could hear the smaller stones knocking against each other under the rage of the waters, as upon a seashore. Fording was out of the question. I could not swim and carry my swag, and I dared not leave my swag behind me. My only chance was to make a small raft; and that would be difficult to make, and not at all safe when it was made,—not for one man in such a current. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Samuel Butler, Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (1872)

“ I had come upon a sort of Stonehenge of rude and barbaric figures, seated as Chowbok had sat when I questioned him in the wool-shed, and with the same superhumanly malevolent expression upon their faces. They had been all seated, but two had fallen. They were barbarous—neither Egyptian, nor Assyrian, nor Japanese—different from any of these, and yet akin to all. They were six or seven times larger than life, of great antiquity, worn and lichen grown. They were ten in number. There was snow upon their heads and wherever snow could lodge. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Samuel Butler, Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (1872)

“ There was an inky gloom over all that was not covered with snow and ice. Grass there was none.
Each moment I felt increasing upon me that dreadful doubt as to my own identity—as to the continuity of my past and present existence—which is the first sign of that distraction which comes on those who have lost themselves in the bush. I had fought against this feeling hitherto, and had conquered it; but the intense silence and gloom of this rocky wilderness were too much for me, and I felt that my power of collecting myself was beginning to be impaired. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Samuel Butler, Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (1872)

“ I thought of Chowbok, and felt how useful he had been to me, and in how many ways I was the loser by his absence, having now to do all sorts of things for myself which he had hitherto done for me, and could do infinitely better than I could. Moreover, I had set my heart upon making him a real convert to the Christian religion, which he had already embraced outwardly, though I cannot think that it had taken deep root in his impenetrably stupid nature. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Samuel Butler, Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (1872)

“ I had selected a place where the river was broad and comparatively still, some seventy or eighty yards above a furious rapid. At this spot I had built my raft. I now launched it, made my swag fast to the middle, and got on to it myself, keeping in my hand one of the longest blossom stalks, so that I might punt myself across as long as the water was shallow enough to let me do so. I got on pretty well for twenty or thirty yards from the shore, but even in this short space I nearly upset my raft by shifting too rapidly from one side to the other. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Samuel Butler, Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (1872)

“ The wildness of the wind increased, the moans grew shriller, coming from several statues, and swelling into a chorus. I almost immediately knew what it was, but the sound was so unearthly that this was but little consolation. The inhuman beings into whose hearts the Evil One had put it to conceive these statues, had made their heads into a sort of organ-pipe, so that their mouths should catch the wind and sound with its blowing. It was horrible. However brave a man might be, he could never stand such a concert, from such lips, and in such a place. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Samuel Butler, Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (1872)

“ James, that if any one converted a sinner (which Chowbok surely was) he should hide a multitude of sins. I reflected, therefore, that the conversion of Chowbok might in some degree compensate for irregularities and short-comings in my own previous life, the remembrance of which had been more than once unpleasant to me during my recent experiences. ”

Samuel Butler

Summary

Quotes from Erewhon — Chapter 5: The River and the Range (Samuel Butler)

Common terms

Similar works

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature